Your business likely already has an extensive cyber security program in place: firewalls, anti-virus/malware protections, multi-factor authentication and data encryption. Unfortunately, people represent your greatest cyber security threat.
No one at your organization intends to put your information at risk intentionally, yet human error is more likely than malicious insiders to be the source of a data breach. Verizon's annual Data Breach Investigation Report showed that 74% of the breaches investigated involved "a human element."
Human actions often lead to data loss for businesses across the globe, which could include such risky behaviors as:
- If you delete files without creating backup copies first, the deleted data could become inaccessible and irrecoverable.
- Furthermore, spilling liquid on business technology could damage its hardware further while leaving laptops unprotected or unsecured increases the risk of theft.
- Downloading computer viruses or malware after being taken in by social engineering tricks.
Human Error and Its Consequences
Loss of data due to human error can have dire repercussions for your business; productivity could suffer when access isn't readily available and data recovery will require time and money from both you and the vendor.
Lossing data can severely harm a company's reputation. Customers could leave when they discover their personal information has been lost; you could face legal action in serious data compromise cases; depending on your industry, fines could also apply if standards weren't met in relation to privacy and security standards.
Prevent Human Error
People will make mistakes, but you can reduce their risks of data loss by providing your employees with proper training:
- Safely transferring, editing and deleting data; Learning how to identify phishing attacks and other social engineering techniques; Steering clear of public wireless networks
- Securing technology for business (e.g. locking devices when not being used).
- Inform IT immediately if a user deletes a file or downloads malware.
Don't rely solely on one session to onboard new employees - annual cybersecurity training may not provide enough education on the subject matter; consider hosting interactive training every four to six months where participants could discuss latest threats, best practices, and the importance of remaining vigilant.
Safeguard Your Business Data
Your company can protect its data by educating users, installing firewalls and anti-virus software to secure its data, regularly upgrading hardware and software patches and upgrading them as required.
Create a plan for data recovery that entails multiple ways to back up and restore lost files. Moving data to the cloud ensures access and recovery in case someone spills coffee on your server or their laptop is stolen, enabling work to continue uninterrupted despite such incidents as spilling coffee onto it or being stolen from them.
Managed service providers can be invaluable tools in strengthening your cyber defenses. Speak with our experts today at (404) 932-5940 about ways we can reduce human error risk and strengthen your defenses - we look forward to speaking with you!
